Mexico Senate identifies geothermal as critical to energy transition

Historical centre of Morelia, Mexico (source: flickr/ Antonio Tapia, creative commons)

Legislators in Mexico have noted that geothermal projects in the country are fundamental in the transition to clean energy. Related to this statement, the Senate has asked the state-owned utility and power company Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) along with the Ministry of Energy (SENER) and the National Water Commission (CONAGUA) to deliver a report on the policies, plans, and programs regarding the exploration and extraction of water for power production.

Mexico currently has four public geothermal energy projects – Cerro Prieto, Los Azufres, Los Humeros, and Tres Virgenes. According to Energía a Debate, Mexico has approximately 9.6 GW of potential geothermal resources. Fluid from underground sources only accounts for 0.3% of the water utilized to produce electric energy.

“Promoting the development and use of geothermal energy will be key to reducing gas emissions and generating clean electricity regularly, in coordination with the stability that the National Electricity System [can provide],” said GEOKERI Managing Director Genaro Hiriart.

As pointed out by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the 2022 Mexico Clean Energy Report, Mexico has the potential of playing a significant role in the transition to clean energy. There is still lots of room for growth for the potential industry – there are currently 14 geothermal projects under tender with 254 others set to be tendered until 2027.

CFE currently holds 13 exploration permits for geothermal projects which a total estimated potential between 487 to 1002 MW. This represents half of the permits that SENER has issued for geothermal exploration. Energy experts have also expressed concern that strengthening the state utility may deter investment from privately owned developers.

In recent news, CFE had recently released the results of a study that confirms the benefits of augmenting their existing geothermal power plants with ORC units.

Source: Mexico Business News